


One Knight Stand

by Apriel



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Anxiety Attacks, Banter, Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Brunnhilde | Valkyrie-centric (Marvel), Come Eating, Come Sharing, Comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling, Cunnilingus, Dom Carol Danvers, Drunk Sex, F/F, Face-Sitting, Flashbacks, Fluff, Happy Ending, Heavy Petting, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Loneliness, Love Bites, Love Confessions, Morning After, Multiple Orgasms, Neck Kissing, One Night Stands, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Past Relationship(s), Pet Names, Photon-Charged Orgasms, Post-Coital Cuddling, Power Play, Riding, Romance, Semi-Public Sex, Smut, Spooning, Strangers to Lovers, Tenderness, Trauma, Vaginal Fingering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-10-24 19:10:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20711081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Apriel/pseuds/Apriel
Summary: A one night stand with a blonde stranger who looks like her fallen lover becomes something more as fate seems to keep bringing her back to Valkyrie at times she most needs her~





	1. Chapter 1

Valkyrie has made what many, including herself, would argue to be a pretty decent living here on Sakaar. 

Her own place, favour with the Grandmaster, access to every bar and whatever supplies she needs in whatever quantity she desires; it’s easy pickings, really.

But the removal of any kind of obstacles makes it all too easy to fall into stagnation. It makes it too easy to remember the things she _came_ here to forget.

For surely over several decades now, Valkyrie’s routine has remained unchanged. The only alteration in fact, has been the gradual increase in drinking, and the gradual _decrease_ in time left to grieve.

She would never forget _her_ face though. For all the things about her past life she refuses to mourn, her golden-haired goddess is impossible to blur out. 

So, having been dead for centuries, it is understandably quite the shock when across the bar, Valkyrie sees her likeness. 

She can’t help but stare, forcing the drunken haze to clear so that she can be sure this is no hallucination. 

On closer inspection, her smile isn’t quite the same. Hair’s a little shorter and complexion not quite so fair, but noticing these details still isn’t enough to break the illusion, and Valkyrie is convinced that this is her fallen lover in some form, returned to her. 

She is caught longing before she even has a chance to try her name, and the heavenly blonde saunters over, bold assurance in every stride. 

“Were you hoping to buy me a drink or were you gonna’ ask me to buy you one?”

Valkyrie is stunned at first. Primarily by the fact that her voice does not match that of her beloved Swanhilde, but even still the illusion only wanes a _little_. 

She quickly gathers her gall; far from the ex-Valkyrie to be struck into a silent stupor, even as a drunk and _even _by a woman so magnificent. 

“Well, you caught me staring,” she admits with a wry smile, straightening her posture and tilting her body toward the other woman. “What’s your poison?”

The blonde huffs a soft laugh as she leans on the bar; cool and confident from head to toe. 

“You uh... you sure you can afford to ask that? Looks like the bartender hasn’t been able to keep up with you,” she points out, referring to the collection of empty glasses all pushed to one side. 

“Tsh, this is nothing,” Valkyrie coolly maintains. She’s not _so _sure she should be flaunting the fact that she’s clearly an alcoholic, but she senses challenge in the other woman’s tone; like an invitation to show off. 

“What’re you drinking?” the blonde asks thoughtfully, her pretty mouth quirking at the sides.

“At the moment? Just the view,” Valkyrie replies, taking a casual sip of her current swill while holding her gaze out of the corner of her eye.

She tries so hard to fight her blush when laughter erupts from the blonde, and tries even harder to just fit her whole face in her glass to hide when the phrase, “oh, you’re cute,” is thrown her way. 

Bashful and grumpy as a result, Valkyrie just mutters unintelligibly into the ice chips chinking at the bottom of her long-since empty stout.

“What’s your name?” the blonde then asks, head cocked inquisitively with a somewhat sage smile in place.

“Valkyrie,” the retired warrior aptly replies, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand as she sets the glass down.

“I’m Carol,” the other woman extends.

Valkyrie eyes her for a moment, but inevitably shakes her hand, then tries to recover her series of bashful blunders as she slaps the counter with her open palm to get another round.

Carol intercepts, holding up two fingers when the bartender looks over and earns a nod.

“Guess I’ll see what’s so great about these since it looks like you’ve been on them all night,” she clarifies, finally taking a seat.

Valkyrie smiles reservedly. “Try fifty years,” she says under her breath.

She senses where this might be going, or maybe she’s hoping, but she’s not used to courting her one-night stands, and it seems as though years of quick-meets to quick-fucks with nameless bar flies and passers-by has put her out of practice. 

Not to mention, it’s even less often that _she’s_ the one being flirted with...

Valkyrie can hear herself panting. She’s all too aware of how little control she has over the volume of her voice, but she’s too cloudy and too into it to even attempt reining it in.

They’d talked until closing time, something Valkyrie didn’t know bars even had, but Carol was witty and wry and she made her laugh like she hadn’t in ages.

After so graciously seeing Val back to her apartment, that’s when the kissing started. Valkyrie is sure she initiated it, but she’s _certainly_ not the one leading the way anymore, and now they’re already going to bed.

It’s all a haze how they both become undressed; the little things just don’t register. 

Carol isn’t anything like her Swanhilde, Valkyrie had surmised that over the course of their evening together, but a drunk and lonely heart will see whatever it wants to see, and the tired warrior is just glad to be touched. 

She’s had drunker nights of baseless sex with people who looked nowhere _near _as much like Swanhilde, anyway. But Carol’s energy is different—special—and it’s enough to dull her sense of reserve even more effectively than the alcohol. 

She can tell she’s acting frenzied by Carol’s cute laugh cutting in; her hands on her body as they tussle and grope and kiss.

“You’re a wild one, huh?” Carol croons when she takes her turn on top, mantling the panting warrior and kissing her way down her neck.

Valkyrie groans and cants her hips, and Carol understands.

It’s a blur from there onward; a passionate and incapacitating hour of sharing heat and sliding skin and lips captured between lips.

Valkyrie had wanted to savour the fantasy of Swanhilde. She’d wanted to look at Carol, sober and slow as she took her in and accepted her love, but Carol has other ideas, and all Valkyrie can recall is her mouth on her cunt for ages, making her cum enough times for her to soon forget that too.

“Ah~ Fuck,” Valkyrie curses, holding the Captain’s head between her hands as if she somehow has any control over how fiercely she eats her out. “Fuck... fuck! Oh!”

“Atta’ girl,” the blonde grins, switching to fingers to give her A‑spot some attention.

Valkyrie lifts her hips, keening into the sensation but finding herself deprived of the edge she needs and huffing as she starts to rub her clit.

“Alright, pretty girl, you show me how it’s done,” Carol grins, wholly encouraging her to seek the pleasure she needs.

“Gimme’ your hand,” Valkyrie demands, voice strained and slurred.

Carol complies, and lets her take her two fingers and guide them round her clit. 

Her inner‑thighs tremble and she makes another soft ‘ooh’ sound before leaving the Captain to follow her example.

“Fuck... that’s it~”

“That’s it huh? Just like that, princess?” Carol goads, maintaing an unbeliavble rhythm. 

“Oh, god... just like that~” Valkyrie moans blissfully.

Carol’s taking instruction feels by no means a sign of inadequacy, of course. Valkyrie has never had someone so attentive between her legs before, and normally, so long as they got her there, she had little concern for technique or form.

There’s something about Carol, though. Even through the bliss and the intoxication, Valkyrie feels a very solid sense of comfort, like she knows Carol well enough to ask things of her… like she really _is_ someone she’s loved before.

“Oh fuck... your mouth...” she pants, rolling and writhing, “use your tongue again~”

Carol, in love with the fact her feisty warrior is still giving orders even now, obliges her without hesitation. 

“You better make some noise for me, baby,” she supplies; some famous last words before dedicating her lips to the nurturing of Val’s swollen clit, cherry red and firm with arousal. 

Valkyrie doesn’t disappoint her blonde bombshell.

Head thrown back in ecstasy as she squirms, face contorted in bliss; she is the picture of Hedone, moaning and cursing in a love-struck tongue as words tumble from her lips and she cums _one _final time.

She doesn’t remember falling asleep, just the gentle croon of that voice against her neck as she’s handled gently and brought into an embrace; sweating and panting, inner-thighs webbed with her own cum on crisp sheets as she is held through the night by her divine lover.

The next morning she had expected to wake alone, hungover and feeling vile as most mornings after are for her.

Two arms around her waist and the pinpoints of soft lips and a cute upturned nose pressed to the back of her neck come as quite a surprise, however.

“Hey, you awake?” the stranger asks, kissing her shoulder. “I didn’t wanna’ wake you myself, but I didn’t wanna’ just leave, either,” she confesses. “Not after last night.”

“Mh, why what happened last night?” Valkyrie asks blearily, stretching her arms out and turning over. Fuck. She could get used to waking up being held like this and being met by eyes like _those_ in a morning.

The blonde frowns, a slightly bemused smirk on her lips this time. 

“You don’t remember anything?” she asks with a small, emphasising shake of her head.

“No, no, I do,” Valkyrie quickly reassures with a touch to the cheek. “I just meant... what happened to make you think you had to stay? Most people just... see ‘emselves out.”

Carol. Her name is Carol, she remembers now. Kind and magnificent Carol who is really nothing like her Swanhilde.

“I dunno’,” Carol shrugs, returning the touch with a little rub of her thumb. “Just... didn’t seem like the thing to do...”

Valkyrie smiles, somewhat reassured to hear it was compelled of her rather than standard practice, otherwise Carol really would be too perfect and chivalrous. 

“Thank you,” she mouths, only the merest sound accompanying the movement of her smiling lips as she gazes up at Carol a little longer.

“I really should go though, kinda’ lost my crew last night in the chaos of that green festival. They’ll likely be littering the streets ready for trash pickup,” she explains, adding humour to soften the blow of her departure. 

Far be it from Valkyrie’s style to make it difficult for someone to leave her, so she moves her head to let Carol sit up. Losing the warmth of those arms is almost unbearable though, and it renders her feeling instantly vulnerable; enough to pull the sheets up to cover herself.

Carol goes about retrieving her clothes from their scattered places, tugging her t-shirt on before stepping into that ridiculous regalia. That is one recollection, in fact. Valkyrie _does _remember failing to find a way into it, and leaving Carol to undress herself for that part.

It brings little fractals of other memories back too though, and Valkyrie is soon biting her lip and looking wistfully into the gathers of her bedsheets that are reminiscent of ripples on water; sparking tiny tingles here and there as small segments of their evening come back to her.

“See ya’ round, princess. Drinks are on me next time,” Carol smiles as she’s finally at the door.

“Y-yeah... see ya’,” Val replies, forcing a happy expression and an uncertain wave.

She stares at the door for a little while then, listless and still processing.

She _surely_ can’t have feelings for a one-night stand, she thinks. It must be residual; her likeness to Swanhilde, that must be what’s confusing her and bringing up all these bubbling emotions. She’s never cried for the loss of a one-time love affair either.

And yet, as she retreats back under the covers of the bed she was sharing only moments ago, the tears come anyway. 


	2. Chapter 2

The Grandmaster’s soirées are always grotesquely overfull and of the _worst_ kinds of guests, but there is alcohol in abundance, and he is rather lax on his stance about drinking on the job, so Valkyrie does not plan to hold back just because she’s body‑guarding.

“Can I go now?” she asks with all the disinterest of a teenager who has been dragged along to an unpleasant family gathering.

“Hm? Oh, yes, yes, go! Party, enjoy yourself~” the Grandmaster flamboyantly dismisses, “but don’t forget to come back and uh, guard my body when I need you,” he adds as an aside, making it sound unnecessarily suggestive.

Valkyrie just pats his cheek somewhat affectionately, and then saunters over to the bar.

There’s a bit of a queue, and she arrives at almost the exact same time as someone else, so offers a polite glance their way. She is forced to do a double take, however, and so is the stranger.

“Well, well. Princess,” the blonde smiles when she recognises her.

“Oh my g—_Carol!_” Valkyrie grins; greeting her like a schoolgirl greets her friends on their first day back after summer break. “I can’t believe it,” she almost scoffs, looking around in bewilderment before leaning on the bar.

“How’ve ya’ been, kid?” Carol asks with a warm smirk, giving her arm a little nudge.

Valkyrie tries to get her smile under control, but her lips refuse to stop curving upward; her heart is pounding.

“I—good, yeah! What about you?”

“Oh, y’know,” Carol shrugs with an expression that means mal‑mal.

“W‑well I mean you look… great,” Val mentions, making to gesture vaguely but unwittingly aiming more at her breasts.

Carol laughs, and it sets her cheeks ablaze. Valkyrie wouldn’t dare say it, but she hasn’t stopped thinking about Carol since their night together, and to see her again after such a chance encounter before almost feels like fate.

“So what’re you drinking these days?” Carol then asks as she leans across the bar to get the attendant’s attention.

“Um,” Valkyrie seems to think about it. She had planned to get shit‑faced drunk, but with Carol here she thinks she’d rather like to enjoy her company sober. “Orange juice,” she quips, looking somewhat impressed with herself.

“Alright,” Carol nods, not even questioning it.

“Oh, wait!” Val interrupts when the bartender comes over. “Make it pineapple juice,” she amends.

She makes sure to catch Carol’s gaze then, and she doesn’t think for a second that the blonde didn’t get the hint, nor does she seem to dissent.

“Fuck, I hate parties,” Valkyrie curses as the pair amble into the corridor.

“Yeah? Is that why you’re taking me away for a party’a two?” Carol banters with her, pinning her to the closest wall for a moment to steal a kiss.

Valkyrie grunts and bares her teeth as she presses her body to Carol’s, adamant that this time she will be forthright and present for _all _of their love making. She huffs a laugh then and admires Carol’s face as the blonde makes short work of her pants.

“These rooms are free for anyone to go fuck in, you know? The Grandmaster has party rooms all over the place,” she enlightens.

“Yeah?” Carol replies, clearly more focussed on getting her hands on, or rather, _in_ Valkyrie.

“Nh~” the brunette moans as fingers finally breach the tight confines of her leather pants and curl under her mons. She tries not to appear squeamish with modesty when the blonde remarks on how wet she already is.

“It won’t be just me this time, Captain,” she tries a dogged grin, attempting to slip her own hand into Carol’s pants only to realise there’s no entry.

Carol laughs, endeared by the cute frown on her face.

“Sorry, princess, you caught me in a bad outfit for this job.”

Valkyrie rolls her eyes, and grabs both of Carol’s wrists instead; flipping them round before pushing her arms high above her head and kissing her possessively.

Why she’s so ardent to reclaim some kind of dominance over her, she doesn’t quite know herself. Perhaps it’s more about fair game. Not wanting to seem too easily swayed or too quick to succumb.

Perhaps it’s also just because she loves to give Carol something to chuckle at; a reason to laugh and smile that knowing, adoring smile that makes her tingle and _crave_ to be rewarded for being tough.

She doesn’t feel so tough when she’s underneath Carol, though. That’s one of the other things she fondly recalls of their night together. In fact she hasn’t stopped thinking about it since.

Carol made her feel _small_ and _protected_ and like she didn’t _have_ to be strong and independent; like it was okay to yearn and _need_ someone, and that she really was a princess and not just a battle-hardened bounty-hunter for hire. 

In her brief pondering, she lets up on the force with which she pins Carol, and the blonde takes the opportunity just like before, to flip their positions again, hitching a leg to her hip this time as she grinds against Valkyrie and holds her to the wall.

“Why don’t we take this somewhere private?” she suggests, gaze heady now and voice smoky. “I mean I’m all for a bit of finger‑banging in the hallway... but I wanna’ taste you again, princess.”

Val can do little else but pant and close her eyes in resignation. That’s it then, she put up a good fight, but she’s earned her reward, she thinks, smiling under the shadow of her tumbling ringlets.

“I don’t usually play this side, y’know?” Val mentions as they are back in a tussle, messing up pristine bedsheets in one of the private chambers.

“What, with women?”

“Being on the _bottom_,” Valkyrie corrects. 

“Ohhh,” the Captain understands, “I was gonna’ say, you certainly didn’t seem like a novice last time... though coulda’ fooled me about not being on the bottom part,” she winks, kissing her way down Valkyrie’s neck before she can be berated. 

Valkyrie stifles a moan when Carol reaches her breasts and takes a pert nipple into her mouth, the same flushed pink as her lips.

“Lemme’ hear you, princess,” Carol purrs, keen to the sounds trapped in her throat and the way her jaw tightens to keep them inside. 

Val resists, blinking hard as Carol keeps on mapping her way down her body with kisses, but she can’t do it. Not when her mouth finally reaches the waistband of her panties and she takes the elastic between her teeth.

“Fuck~” Val gasps, straightening her legs to let the Captain remove the only remaining garments to retain her modesty in the most _immodest_ way possible.

Carol laughs like she’s really truly enjoying herself as she tosses them over her shoulder, and Valkyrie supposes that for once, she’s enjoying herself too. 

She hasn’t exactly been inactive since their last meeting, but something definitely changed. Valkyrie had had a taste of divinity, or rather, divinity had had a taste of her, and now it feels as if there’s no turning back. She can’t enjoy it with just _anyone_, and she certainly can’t enjoy it unless they make her cum as hard as Carol did.

“Wait,” Valkyrie interjects as Carol is about to dip between her legs again. “Kiss me first,” she requests.

Carol smiles in that way that’s becoming very familiar, and the more Valkyrie takes in the tiny quirks and mannerisms of the other woman, the further and further away she gets from seeing Swanhilde above her.

She’d phased out for a second between asking for the kiss and receiving it, but she notices when Carol stops, seemingly asking if she’s actually home.

Valkyrie touches her face, inviting her back, and she pays attention this time when their lips touch.

Another moan pours from her mouth to Carol’s as the wily captain already has a hand posted between her thighs, and Valkyrie squeezes them together to make it close to impossible to finger her. 

“What?” Carol smiles, “don’t tell me you’re shy, princess?”

Despite her furious blush in response, Valkyrie fights to seem adamant that that is _not_ the case.

Unable to think of a witty reply, she instead just flips them so that she’s on top.

“I’m riding,” she announces, finding a smirk. 

“Alright,” Carol acquiesces with seemingly no objection whatsoever, shuffling down onto her back and moving her hands to Valkyrie’s hips.

She eases her up, holding her weight as Val hovers for a second before looking down with an apprehensive smile.

“Are you sure about this? I mean, _actually?_ ‘Cuz I don’t—oh!”

Carol figures the best way to answer that question is to _show_ her that she is sure, so she pulls her down firmly to meet one mouth with another.

Valkyrie fidgets a little, the hairs rising on her arms and the back of her neck from the sheer delight of having those lips clasp her clit and that warm tongue inside her.

She must admit that she’s sad for the loss of being able to enjoy Carol goading her and teasing her the way she does, but she knows what her bombshell blonde wants to hear, and so she makes no effort to hold back her moans this time as Carol’s fingers dimple her plush hips while she rides her face.

“_Fuck_,” Valkyrie curses, her cute features contorting into an almost‑grimace as she runs her fingers up through her long hair and cants her head into the pressure on her scalp.

Carol makes a sound beneath her, and the low vibration of her voice carries into the hollow of her pelvis, making Val tremble deep in her bones. The new and overwhelming sensations don’t end there though. Valkyrie notices the slight glow between her legs, and she stops moving her hips for a second.

“What are—how are you doing th—_ah!_ Oh, _god_, don’t _stop!_”

Carol smirks, endeared by the response. She’s only done this a couple of times before, but Valkyrie’s reaction is by _far_ the most satisfying.

It takes a lot of control to manage a dose of photon‑charge safe enough to transfer to her tongue, and even more control to keep it steady enough to even risk putting _inside_ another person, but the rewards of such expertise are phenomenal, as Valkyrie is already experiencing.

With her head tipped right back, her long and elegant neck on full display, she pants and cries to the heavens. It’s like having something inside her that’s having an orgasm of its own, the way the energy swells and brings her an inch from climax and then recedes, only to build right up again and keep pushing her to the edge without pushing her _over_.

“Please, fuck, I can’t take anymore,” she huffs, betrayed by her voice too many times already for how much she wants it and how audibly close Carol keeps bringing her.

Carol lifts her for a moment then, noticing how still she’s gone and how weepy she sounds.

“You want me to take care of you, baby?” she croons, easing Valkyrie off her perch and onto her back again so that she can see her face more clearly when she finally makes her cum.

Despite already being in the position, Valkyrie nods her concession, arching her back so prettily as Carol takes her legs over her shoulders and supports her lower back with both hands, tilting her toward her mouth like she’s drinking from her.

The glow begins to build again, and with it so does Val’s voice as she grips the pillow behind her head and whines as the sensation grows, and grows and grows and _grows_ and—

“Oh fuck! I’m gunna’ cum! I’m g—oh! _Oh!_” Valkyrie cries, eyes creasing at the corners as her rosy cheeks tighten, hissing behind her teeth as the pleasure mounts, and _finally_, this time, it _doesn’t _recede, but _bursts_ between her thighs and wipes her clean out.

She is still panting hysterically when she comes to—she surely must have blanked for only a second because Carol’s mouth is still on her, and she’s making her squirm.

“That’s enough, that’s enough, that’s enough,” Val gasps, her voice breathy and high‑pitched in a way she’s never heard herself before as she reaches down between her legs to dissuade Carol. “That’s enough, I can’t, I can’t~” she trails off into panting whimpers.

Carol relents, and hushes her lovingly as she runs her hands up and down her thighs to soothe her.

“Okay, sweetheart, it’s okay. Try to calm down now, good girl,” she coos, holding her steady as she twitches and convulses with the residual sparks of her orgasm.

It takes her a good few minutes to recover, but she is struck with adoration like a literal arrow through her heart when the first clear sight she sees is Carol smiling proudly at her with warm and honeyed eyes.

“Nice work, princess,” she commends with a suave smirk.

“Yeah... not bad yourself,” Val parries, managing a smirk of her own.

Carol chuckles and then idly slides two fingers between plump and pulsing petals, spooling cum around them and licking it off lewdly before repeating the act.

Val doesn’t shy away from the display, sitting up to meet Carol and dipping her own fingers inside herself before offering them to her to lick.

Carol approves with a heady smile, taking Val’s fingers into her mouth and rolling her tongue around and in between them.

“Hm~ you’re bold, Captain,” Valkyrie grins, still wilting a little as she watches her behave so suggestively.

“Got another one in you, kid?” the blonde wonders, releasing her fingers with a wet sound before herding Valkyrie right back down by kissing her breasts and palming her cunt.

The brunette laughs girlishly and rolls around as if to try and escape, squealing with delight when Carol pulls her right back down to where she was and growls into the clavicle of her neck possessively.

“Yeah,” Valkyrie nods, another laugh caught in her throat as she strokes Carol’s hair and lets her mark her. “I can go another round.”

The place is in utter chaos by the time the two emerge. The only just cause for them to stop had in fact been simultaneous demands to return from their respective employers whom they were _supposed _to be guarding.

It’s a wonder the party hasn’t disbanded, but it sounds like the fun is only just beginning out here; as is to be expected by a party hosted by the Grandmaster. His shindigs could last for days sometimes no matter how out of hand they got.

Wearing a lingering blush from being so perpetually flustered for the past hour or so, Valkyrie smooths down her tunic and tries to do something with her hair that doesn’t betray how tussled it is at the back.

“Well, uh, th‑thanks,” she says a little awkwardly to Carol.

“Oh thank _you_,” the blonde returns the sentiment. “I hope I’ll see you again soon, princess,” she preens, leaning over Val and kabedonning her to the wall one last time as she moves aside a stray ringlet to kiss her cheek.

“I hope so too,” Valkyrie agrees, unable to avoid giggling.

“Danvers!” a hoarse voice comes from Carol’s universal translator.

“Yep,” the Captain replies succinctly, switching the thing off. “I really wish we had more time,” she sighs, gently caressing Val’s soft cheek.

“We will. Next time,” the brunette assures, holding her hand there for a moment. “Drinks are on me,” she smiles.


	3. Chapter 3

It’s been several hours now since Valkyrie had safely seen the Asgardians to the interstellar port. It was the closest one in the galaxy, but the place is teaming with refugees just like them.

It is an illuminating if not grim reality, but these people must all have been caught in Thanos’ wake as well.

Guilt gnaws at her still for leaving Thor and Banner to face the mad titan.

She knows she did an important job; someone had to take charge and protect the civilians, but something feels wrong. Even with the addition of Loki’s tricks and the aid of Heimdall, she gets the sickening feeling that they are facing a fiercer fight than they are prepared for, and she fears for her family.

The Asgardians have already grown sparse in their numbers just since leaving their home. There were many losses under Hela’s reign, and more during the fall of the kingdom. She wouldn’t say they’re a critically endangered species just yet, but the weight of keeping even this many safe on her own makes Valkyrie pale a little.

Swanhilde would have no trouble with such things. She was a natural born leader and protector, and she had once told Valkyrie she saw the same strength in her.

The weary warrior doesn’t feel very strong right now though.

She is distracted by a brief glimmer of gold, however, and looks up to see a likeness she is now _very _familiar with.

“C-Carol?!” Valkyrie yells across the station, causing the blonde to jerk her head up like an alert Alsatian and look around bewildered for the source of the voice. “Excuse me,” Val insists as she bustles her way through the crowd to reach her. “Carol,” she pants, grabbing her arm and chuckling a little at the fact she still couldn’t seem to spot her until now.

“Princess!” Carol greets her cheerily, bringing her into an unexpected hug. It’s fierce and intimate and perhaps a little longer than social protocol would dictate, but after what she’s just been through, Valkyrie finds she needs it.

“What are you doing h—”

“How come you’re h—oh sorry, you go ahead,” Carol apologises after cutting in.

Valkyrie chuckles; endeared despite the tragic circumstances of their meeting here. It’s just _so_ nice to see a friendly face.

“I uh… the Asgardians—my people…” she fumbles.

“You’re here with your people, too?” Carol sombrely clarifies. “Honey… I’m so sorry,” she murmurs, bringing Valkyrie in for another hug.

That one brings her close to tears this time though—_far_ too close—and Valkyrie has to resist and force a smile.

“It’s okay, I—we’re all okay. Just glad to be somewhere safe for now,” she admits.

“Danvers, we need you over here! Your ship is ready to go!”

“Damnit,” Carol curses, acknowledging the other official before turning back to Valkyrie. “Where are they taking you, do you know yet?”

Valkyrie shakes her head, and then Carol is called for again.

“Shit, okay, I gotta’ go. This is a huge operation so… it’s not likely they’ll be moving your people anywhere today… maybe kinda’ selfish of me to say but since I’ll be back tonight I suppose that’s… sort of good luck… maybe we can spend some time together?”

Val shakes her head again, putting both hands on Carol’s shoulders.

“If it’s selfish for you to think that then I’m more so,” she reassures, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “Come find me when you’re back, Captain. I’ll buy you that drink.”

Carol grins self-assuredly and bows as she kisses her hand.

“I’ll try not to keep you waiting, princess.”

Valkyrie watches a little misty-eyed as Carol turns to leave then, though there’s also something like pride welling inside her as the Captain jogs over to the craft waiting for people to board.

“Now, you’re taking this ship to Xandar, got it? No co-pilot this time but it’s a small payload. I need you back here as close to twenty‑one hundred as possible.”

“Roger that,” Carol replies, glancing over momentarily and flashing Valkyrie one last smile before boarding.

Valkyrie had kept that number in mind. The hours past, and it is now approaching midnight, and Carol still isn’t back.

She is grateful, however, that with the gradual displacement of people, beds to sleep in became more readily available, and the Asgardians are fortunate enough to be bundled into one of the nearby hotels.

Valkyrie declined a bed of her own, though. She is still waiting at the station outside a locked up fast food joint, forehead pressed heavy to her folded arms as she starts to doze off.

It is _just_ shy of midnight when Carol’s craft lands, but she didn’t forget, and when she spies the sleeping brunette across the platform as she’s about to step down, she can’t help but smile.

“Hey, princess,” the familiar voice seeps through her drowsiness as the blonde mirage starts to take shape.

“Oh, you’re bearing gifts, I see,” Val murmurs.

“I knew it’d be late. I’m sorry. Maybe a bit presumptuous to think you’d actually still be up waiting but… guess I made the right call,” she smiles softly. Her voice is lowered, and there is an all-round gentle glow about her, Valkyrie notices. “Can I sit?” Carol then politely asks.

“Well, since you brought me a drink to make up for being late, I suppose so,” the wry warrior smirks. “What do I owe you?”

“Heh, despite it being your turn to buy, I’m not gunna’ hold that against you since I forfeited my free drink by making you wait… maybe just a kiss on the cheek later,” she winks.

Val laughs; tired and half‑hearted but meaningful nonetheless.

She takes the lid off the beverage to inspect it, scrutinising the whipped cream on top and the chocolate powder dusting it.

“Is there alcohol in this?” she enquires hopefully.

“Heh, ‘fraid not,” Carol declines.

“What is it?”

“Caramel Moccachino,” the blonde states; her brows peaked and her mouth quirked in an almost sympathetic mien, like she _knows_ how much it would help right now to just get blind drunk, but that she doesn’t really want to facilitate any habits that would harm her Valkyrie in the long‑run.

Val takes an experimental sip, and Carol watches her expression go from calculating to pleasantly surprised.

“That’s not bad,” she confirms, nodding with slightly pouted lips. “What made you think of me as a… whatever it is…? Moccanimo kinda’ girl?” she wonders, taking another sip to warm herself up.

Carol chuckles at her cuteness. “Oh, y’know, something sappy like ‘cuz you’re sweet,” she mindlessly replies as she takes the lid off her own comparably bitter Flat White to stir it.

“Wow, yeah, that_ is_ sappy,” Valkyrie agrees despite her rosy cheeks. “Almost as sappy as all this syrup,” she adds, tilting the cup to expose a layer of caramel sauce at the bottom.

“Well,” Carol returns the serve, “in case that didn’t go down smooth, I _did_ get you somethin’ else,” she reveals, setting the paper bag of presumably baked goods on the table.

“What’s this?” Val chuckles, peering into the package to pull out a sweet‑smelling dessert square.

“It’s a blondie; you don’t have those in Asgard?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Valkyrie shrugs, sampling the treat with another sceptical bite, “hadn’t been there in years and then the place got destroyed within half an hour of me setting foot in it…”

Carol makes a slightly worried expression, the corner of her mouth pleating as she anticipates a potential exposé of supressed feelings.

“Hm, not bad either,” Valkyrie declares, dusting her hands off after eating the_ entire_ thing _despite_ that subpar review. “I’ll be honest though, the only blondie I fancy right now is you,” she winks.

The captain hitches her eyebrows, not disbelieving but _certainly_ surprised to receive such a bold suggestion.

“Right now? Can’t I finish my coffee first?” she teases.

Val just smiles coyly, extending her hand across the table to touch Carol’s.

“Thanks for coming back… I’m sure it was a long journey…”

Carol shakes her head, tucking a curtain of golden hair behind her ear as she stares into her coffee.

“I don’t really wanna’ talk about all that now,” she admits. “It’s… been a long day for everyone…”

Valkyrie nods in understanding. Sometimes it’s easier not to talk about it, but sometimes, it’s also _better_ not to.

“I’m… really happy to see you,” Carol speaks up again, reaching out to gently touch a sweet pink cheek. “I mean it’s not ideal—it’s not how I wanted to meet again but… I dunno’,” she ponders, tilting her head thoughtfully as she admires the soft features opposite her. “I’m just happy you’re okay and that I get to see you again.”

“Me too,” Valkyrie smiles, her eyes flicker a little with pain despite her earnestness.

“Well, I’m all outta’ coffee,” Carol conveniently segways, “wanna’ take this back to your place?”

“Tsh, my place,” Val parrots. “If I can find it.”

“You got a room key at least? C’mon, I’ll help you,” Carol smiles, throwing their cups and wrappers in a nearby trash can before putting her arm around Valkyrie as they head to the hotel.

As luck would have it, there is still a room available, or perhaps rather than luck it was more thanks to Carol’s intervention at the front desk.

It’s no challenge to find. Val’s is a small single on the ground floor, and despite its drabness, it is peaceful to step into.

Carol closes the door behind her, and Valkyrie hums softly in contentment when she receives a kiss on the neck and all the memories of being held like this, being kissed and _loved_ and _wanted_ like this by her come flooding back.

She has long since stopped seeing her as Swanhilde’s ghost; in fact Carol has been Carol in every single one of her fantasies since she last saw her face.

“I’ve missed you,” Valkyrie is the first to confess, keening into the warmth of the mouth now clasping the skin of her shoulder and aiming to leave a pretty mark. She had hoped there would be some power in them that could make them last until their next meeting, but sadly the past few had all faded long before then.

“Me too. I’ve missed you,” Carol assures, drawing the waterfall of dark ringlets to one side so she can see Val’s face more clearly. “Let’s go to bed,” she smiles, enveloping the weary warrior in her welcoming glow as she leads her over to the single bed.

They’ve shared roomier spaces together, but Valkyrie can’t deny that right now, when everything around them is as distant and uncertain as it can get, there is little more comforting than to carve out a tiny space like this in the universe and share it with just one other person.

The feeling of Carol’s hand already snaking under her tunic makes her smile. Perhaps it’s wrong to want for this at such a time; perhaps it’s hubris, but Carol’s love is so healing, and Valkyrie wants nothing more than to just forget again for a little while.

She moans softly as a warm, experienced hand cups her breast and gently pinches a nipple, but it seems her efforts have an opposite effect when Carol accidently grazes a new scar near her arm, and the weight of what she’d just been through suddenly hits Valkyrie in a smothering wave as Carol is about to mantle her.

“Wait,” she gasps, pushing on Carol’s chest in defence. “Wait, I… I’m not sure I wanna’ do this.”

“Okay—woah, hey,” Carol soothes, quick to remove her hand and offer comfort when Valkyrie pinches the bridge of her nose and winces.

“I’m sorry,” she sobs.

“Hey, oh _hey_, baby girl,” Carol tuts, frowning with concern as she gently rubs her upper‑arms. “That’s okay. That’s _totally_ okay. We don’t have to do anything like that,” she promises, moving off her to give her space. “Let’s just be together, okay?”

Valkyrie nods, gently reaching up to touch Carol’s kind and smiling face to ground herself, and Carol is soon nodding along with her, kissing her palm as she holds her hand there.

“We can just be together, okay?” the blonde repeats with a serene smile.

“Mm…” Valkyrie nods with a comparably shy look, edging herself over to the wall as far as possible so that there’s enough space for them both to lie side by side. “I’m sorry,” she mentions.

“No, no, no,” Carol tuts, bringing her close to her chest once they’re both settled. “Don’t apologise. We never have to do anything like that… I like you for more than just that,” the Captain asserts, stroking her hair lovingly.

Though still a little shaken from her sudden reliving of the entire past twelve hours, Val is quick to find solitude and safety in Carol’s arms, and the two talk idly between gentle touches and brushes of lips and noses until the early hours.

Valkyrie is the first to fall asleep, and Carol continues to admire her for a little longer until she falls asleep herself. Having someone in her arms tonight of _all_ nights was not something the Captain could have ever foreseen, but it has certainly made a hard day better, for both of them, in fact.

Morning comes far too soon, but Valkyrie is feeling stronger and much more herself after an evening in Carol’s arms again.

“Hey, princess,” the blonde greets her in that familiar way when she sees she is awake.

She was already amidst getting dressed, but she stops for a moment after pulling her suit up to her waist and sitting on the edge of the bed to gently stroke Val’s cheek.

“Listen, I’ve got a few trips to make… my team is at the head of this refugee operation so I might not be back for a couple days, but if they find a home for your people before I return then I’ll do my best to come find you.”

Valkyrie nods in understanding, offering a heartening smile.

“Be safe out there, Captain. I’m sure we’ll run into each other again some way or another.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Carol grins, leaning in to give her one last kiss. “I’ll be thinking about you, though,” she adds.

They steal all the kisses they can before Carol really has to leave, and Valkyrie goes to the window when she is out the door to once again watch the blonde disappearing from her life.

She thinks better of calling after her, of telling her that she hasn’t stopped thinking of her, and likely won’t ever stop no matter how long it takes for fate to cross their strings again. That last time felt too long to be apart from her, but still, to tell her _that_… well, she might as well go ahead and say the words ‘I love you.’


	4. Epilogue

Valkyrie watches as the former king of Asgard takes off in the craft, waving to him in the cockpit as he eagerly does the same.

She watches until the ship is but another star on the horizon, barely visible in the tickled pink clouds and fading colours of the sky as night draws closer.

King of Asgard.

King of _New_ Asgard.

It’s a bigger responsibility than she’s had in a long, _long_ time, and she _does_ plan to make a lot of changes around here, but where to start is quite the decision…

“Valkyrie.”

She knows that voice, and it makes her heart ache and her eyes fill with tears before she’s even turned around to confirm who it is.

Carol approaches, looking every bit the vision Valkyrie has longed to see again after five whole years.

It appears at first that neither of them have a witty one‑liner or a humorous quip to greet one another, so Carol just takes Valkyrie into her arms.

“N‑new haircut,” Val sniffles, finally thinking of something.

She can feel Carol smiling as she’s resting her cheek on top of her head.

“You like it?” the blonde asks.

Valkyrie nods and dries her eyes, pulling back to admire her and run a hand over the shorn side of her head.

“Looks good,” she smiles, fresh and stinging tears still falling.

Carol is the one to dry her eyes this time; gently with the curve of a finger before kissing her forehead and holding her lips there for a long moment.

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” she says, a graveness to her voice that sounds as if to learn that she _wasn’t_ would have broken her heart in two.

“I’ve missed you,” Valkyrie replies, her own voice hitching as a sob pushes its way out.

Carol holds her a little tighter, and the two stay like that for a while, just sharing warmth and enjoying the rekindled feelings of being with one another.

“S’getting dark,” Valkyrie points out as the sun is finally starting to set.

“Yeah… want me to walk you back?”

“Not just yet,” Val answers, enjoying the embrace a little longer. “I am curious though,” she speaks up again, “what made you come here? To find me, I mean.”

“I promised I would,” Carol reminds, kissing the top of her head.

“Come to make sure you get that drink, huh? Not because you have feelings for me or anything?” she tests with a slightly nervous chuckle.

“Tsh, I think you know which it is,” the blonde confidently replies, prompting Val to draw back for a moment and stare at her.

“Do you?” she asks seriously.

“Do I...?”

“Have feelings for me...”

Carol glances somewhat dramatically over the other woman’s shoulder for a second then.

“Yeah, I do,” she confesses.

Valkyrie’s heart skips a beat. In fact it skips several, and she is overcome with the feeling of such _utter_ absolution; as if she’s waited centuries to hear even _that _much.

They may not have had many encounters, but they have certainly played the long game, and the time they _did_ spend together, Valkyrie has never come so close to the deep connection she’d been missing all these years as she has with Carol.

She will never stop missing her Swanhilde, and there may come a day that she will have to miss Carol like that too. Even at a time like this, there is a fear in Valkyrie that she cannot overcome; the possibility that things for her are never meant to be forever.

But Carol came back, and it seems that Carol will _always_ come back, so maybe it is safe to love her… but even if it isn’t, maybe it’s _okay_ to take the risk.

Maybe it’s okay to finally fall in love again.

After all, when forever looks like eons, a couple thousand years with someone could pass in the blink of an eye, and right now, Valkyrie doesn’t want to miss a _second_.

“Well… if that’s the case,” the brunette begins, “it just so happens that the king of Asgard is looking for a queen,” she smiles.

‘You?’ Carol asks with a simple widen of her eyes, excitement and pride already blossoming in them.

Valkyrie nods.

“Well… I don’t know that I’d make a very good queen,” the Captain considers, “but how ‘bout a knight?” she suggests, wrapping her arms low around Valkyrie’s waist as she picks her up and bounces her.

Val giggles again in the girlish way, hands tucked up to her chest as she gazes at Carol for a moment.

“A knight huh? Maybe it is time I had one of those,” she smiles.

“I promise to protect you,” Carol grins up at her, starting to glow as the sun goes down, enveloping them in a new light as they stand on the outcrop over the sea.

Valkyrie laughs softly then, leaning down to kiss her deeply as the wind whips around them.

“Will you still call me princess?” she wonders, taking the arm of her knight as Carol gently lets her feet back on the ground and begins to walk them to the village.

“Oof,” she winces, “not sure if I’m allowed to do that anymore.”

Valkyrie gives her a light shove with her elbow and a sideways glance, and Carol adopts a wry smirk as she skirts behind her and gathers her up into her arms bridal style, making the smaller woman squeal and cling before descending into delighted laughter.

“Is that better, princess?” Carol humours her. “This seems a much more appropriate way for royalty to travel,” she supplies as she treks through the village like this the whole way.

“This one’s mine,” Val smiles as they arrive at her cottage.

Carol once again deposits her very gently, and the kissing starts as soon as they bustle inside the cosy entryway.

Valkyrie is not long for being scooped up _again_ though and carried to bed, laughing as Carol’s lips are on her neck, whispering sweet nothings.

Her sheets are messed up in no time, both of their clothes strewn across the room as their bodies glide against one another with only their underwear separating the few inches of bare skin.

“Will you stay?” Valkyrie pants. She makes no effort to attain even a sliver of dominance over Carol this time as the blonde situates herself between her legs and holds one to her hip, her mouth returning to its favourite spot on Val’s neck. “Will you be here in the morning?”

Carol pauses. “Have I ever not been?” she smirks.

“That… that’s not…” Valkyrie sighs, rubbing her arm anxiously and averting her gaze. “I _mean_, will you be saying goodbye again?” she amends, already looking troubled by the implication that Carol will be leaving her so soon.

The Captain seems to understand her fear, and she regrets that she couldn’t possibly give her the answer she wants when she knows full‑well that she could be called to action at any time.

“It… it’s possible,” Carol confesses. She wouldn’t lie to her, not even for the sake of enjoying their night together. She could never hurt Valkyrie like that.

“Then what’s the point?” Valkyrie asks, her voice teetering on the cusp of a sob as she shuffles out from under Carol and sits on the edge of the bed. “No one makes me feel the way you do… is it my payment to the universe for bringing you to me, that I can only ever be with you when it says so?”

Carol moves to be beside her and cradles the weeping warrior in her arms.

“I can’t promise I won’t have to leave,” she admits, “but I can promise that from now on, the place I return to will always be you.”

“Do you mean that?” Val sniffles, turning her head a little to glance at Carol.

“You have my word. As your knight, I will always return to protect you, your majesty,” she grins, kissing her back into bed and teasing laughter from her queen.

“Seriously,” Val interrupts, cupping Carol’s face between her hands as she stares up at her. “You’d better not get all formal with me now. How about just being my girlfriend first?” she grins.

Carol’s lips curl into an almost catlike curve as she looks deep into Valkyrie’s umber eyes.

“Alright, princess~” she purrs.


End file.
